EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA UPDATE Migrant influx continues as thousands cross into Austria from Hungary

Record ID: 141055

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/AUSTRIA UPDATE Migrant influx continues as thousands cross into Austria from Hungary
  • Date: 14th September 2015
  • Summary: NICKELSDORF, AUSTRIA (SEPTEMBER 14, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS STANDING IN QUEUES WAITING TO BE TAKEN TO BUSES / POLICE REMOVING LITTER OUT OF THE WAY POLICE STANDING AMONG MIGRANTS IN QUEUE MAN CARRYING TWO BABIES POLICE CONTROLLING MIGRANTS AS THEY ARE TAKEN TO BUSES (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE SPOKESPERSON, GERALD PANGL, SAYING: "We estimate the amount of migrants who arrived yesterday and last night at 14,000. The influx didn't stop overnight. 4,000 were transported away from here in the night, in special trains from Nickelsdorf to Vienna Westbahnhof station and by bus to different places. The wave continued, which means that so far today we have had 4,500 new arrivals. Special trains are arriving [in Hungary] with up to 1,500 migrants, who are then walking over the border at Nickelsdorf." MIGRANTS WALKING TOWARDS BUSES (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE SPOKESPERSON, GERALD PANGL, SAYING: "There's information going around that the government and authorities in Hungary want to empty the camps, and so we think that up to 10,000 migrants could come here and to the south [of Austria]." LITTER ON GROUND GIRL DRINKING FROM PLASTIC CUP (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE SPOKESPERSON, GERALD PANGL, SAYING: "This information is not being confirmed at the highest level. We are receiving last-minute information when a train arrives with 1,500 migrants on board, but we haven't received any word from the Hungarians about how they will proceed, what their plans are, and we are not receiving concrete numbers about how the situation is in Hungary and how many people we can expect. We don't have this information at the moment." MIGRANTS WALKING PAST FAMILY WALKING TOWARDS BUSES / POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF BARRIERS (SOUNDBITE) (German) BURGENLAND POLICE SPOKESPERSON, GERALD PANGL, SAYING: "It took some time for us to get this well-organised, and there was no sign of chaos in the last few days, so the process normalised somewhat. This is now another situation which we will have to prepare ourselves for. It will be a new challenge having to work with this new dimension." BOY SMILING POLICE STANDING IN FRONT OF MIGRANTS IN QUEUE VIENNA, AUSTRIA (SEPTEMBER 14, 2015) (REUTERS) WESTBAHNHOF TRAIN STATION LOBBY MIGRANT FAMILY SITTING ON FLOOR WOMAN CRADLING CHILD MIGRANT FAMILY SITTING ON FLOOR GROUP OF YOUNG MEN WITH BACKPACKS STANDING ON TRAIN PLATFORM YOUNG MEN TALKING AUSTRIAN POLICE STANDING AT END OF PLATFORM POLICE TALKING VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS ON PLATFORM WAITING FOR TRAIN VARIOUS OF BOYS BLOWING BUBBLES GROUP OF YOUNG MEN WALKING ALONG PLATFORM YOUNG MAN PICKING UP NEWSPAPER AND LOOKING AT FRONT PAGE NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE, SHOWING PICTURE OF GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, READING (German): "Germany closes border" / MIGRANTS SITTING ON BENCH ON PLATFORM
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HJCIUGFPTR1FTSNC3WC9X9M1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Austrian police said they were expecting thousands of people to cross the border from Hungary on Monday (September 14).
    Speaking to Reuters TV in the town of Nickelsdorf on the Austria-Hungary border, Gerald Pangl from the regional Burgenland police said that the influx of migrants crossing the border on foot was not easing.
    "We estimate the amount of migrants who arrived yesterday and last night at 14,000. The influx didn't stop overnight. 4,000 were transported away from here in the night, in special trains from Nickelsdorf to Vienna Westbahnhof station and by bus to different places. The wave continued, which means that so far today we have had 4,500 new arrivals," Gerald Pangl said.
    "Special trains are arriving [in Hungary] with up to 1,500 migrants, who are then walking over the border at Nickelsdorf," he explained, adding that it was difficult to predict exactly how many would come because of the lack of official information being received from the Hungarian authorities.
    "This information is not being confirmed at the highest level. We are receiving last-minute information when a train arrives with 1,500 migrants on board, but we haven't received any word from the Hungarians about how they will proceed, what their plans are, and we are not receiving concrete numbers about how the situation is in Hungary and how many people we can expect," Pangl said.
    He said it was still too early to say what effect reinforced German border controls could have on those arriving in Nickelsdorf.
    But Pangl did say that he had heard rumours that Hungarian authorities wanted to empty the transit camps, and that this could mean another 10,000 arrivals in Austria - both in Nickelsdorf and the southern border town of Heiligenkreuz am Lafnitztal.
    Meanwhile, groups of migrants could be seen at Vienna's Westbahnhof station on Monday morning as train services towards Germany slowly resumed.
    The trains to Germany were temporarily suspended on Sunday (September 13) after Berlin decided to impose temporary border controls on its southern frontier with Austria due to the large influx of people crossing into Germany.
    Hundreds of migrants are travelling to Vienna from Hungary every day, after traversing the so-called Balkan route from Greece via Macedonia and Serbia.
    Most of them hope to reach Germany, Europe's largest and richest economy, which has become a magnet for many people fleeing war and poverty in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
    Austrian news agency APA quoted Chancellor Werner Faymann as saying that Vienna would not introduce additional border controls for now but that the effect of Germany's decision on Austria was hard to predict.
    At an emergency meeting on Monday, interior ministers from the EU's 28 member states will discuss Commission proposals to redistribute about 160,000 asylum seekers across the bloc.
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